The Fillmore & Western lost its court case, and is being evicted. Last train rides will be Saturday, July 5. They seem to have been expecting it, they have already started selling equipment. The little Porter, Sespe, has been sold to an operation in Oregon. Some cars have gone to the California State RR Museum and other places.
Here is the full story:
http://www.vcstar.com/news/local-news/fillmore/fillmore-western-evicted-from-rail-line_90589532
Wow thats BS. They probably want the tourist line out of the way so they can sell the ROW to Metrolink or similar transit use. There has been talk of a transit/trolley line from Ventura to Santa Barbara for years. Extending it to Santa Paula and the Metrolink in Valencia would make sense
Sad about the line though, the town got alot of business from it.
That’s a real shame. But I guess we can all sit back and laugh next year when Filmore is crying that they are suddenly broke because so many businesses (tourist businesses) have left town and their tax base has shriveled.
The blame will be on the Ventura County Transportation Commission. What remains to be seen is what the VCTC does with the remnants. I seriously doubt any other tourism line is being considered. If any deal with Metrolink or similar transit company will prove my speculation.
VCTC acquired this line to save it for future transit use (either to Ventura coast or to Los Angeles via Newhall Saugus. This was the original line to Los Angeles from the Coast, before the line through the San Fernando Valley was built.
VCTC is not living up to its mission statement OR to the original intent of the track purchase. Fillmore Western for over 20 years provided job in rural Ventura County, and opportuinies for tourism. At the same time, many many films, tv shows, and commercials were done there, providing trains in close proximity to Hollywood film production.
This is stupid and costly, with no benefit to either Ventury County Government or the communities in rural Ventury County.
It’s dereliction of duty, and probably malfeasance by the officers of the VCTC. IMHO.
My biggest concern has been the issue (or rumors) of the rails to trails folks up in that area.
VCTC’s rational is to convert the r/w into a bike trail, but seem oblivious to the fact that the trail would generate no revenue to the County or VCTC, cost thousands of dollars to remove the rails and pave the r/w, and continue to have operating and maintenance costs, security costs, fire prevention and supression costs, etc.
Plus VCTC has no money (AFAIK) to build the bike trail. Seems they’re ignoring their original reasons for acquiring the right of way, ignoring grants to improve the right of way, and discrediting the only revenue producer on the route.
Why, I don’t know. But if Ventura County just followed the money, they’d find out.
In the meantime, it sounds like the final curtain is coming down on a very successful business in Fillmore.
Sounds like Agenda 21, to me. Follow the money.
I was unaware of the Rails to Trails connection. If they do that it would be incredibly short sighted considering how much transit programs in LA are likely to expand in the next decade. But when given the choice between stupid and logical out here stupid always seams to win. We’ll see.
Glad that I got to ride on it a couple times over the years.
Hopefully they find another operator soon.
The RR website indicated a “stay.” Who owns the property? As for a “railstotrails,” with the exception of Pittsburgh, nobody is that stupid.
Ed
Ed Halo said:
The RR website indicated a “stay.” Who owns the property? As for a “railstotrails,” with the exception of Pittsburgh, nobody is that stupid.
Ed
Tongue in cheek…I don’t know Ed…The City of Bell, here in So Cal was paying their councilmen $800K to $1M a year! The left coast can get very “stupid”.
Ed yes they can be, quite easily.
The Trails folks unfortunately can have a fairly strong grass-roots lobbying campaign. The worst part of it they do not accept any notion that the ROWs might someday be returned to rail use, in their eyes once it goes to trails is insoluble and forever no matter how logical or necessary the rail use might be. I really have lost respect for alot these groups over the years, some have gotten increasingly irresponsible when they dont get their way. One of these groups have gone so far as to vandalize tourist trains operating on routes they want converted to trails in hopes of crippling the operation.
Found this posted on the Narrow Gauge Discussion Group.
Per an e-mail from Ron Lewis, President of the Santa Clara River Valley RR Historical Society -
VENTURA, Calif. - By Mike Harris
A judge Wednesday delayed the eviction of the Fillmore & Western Railway pending the outcome of the company’s appeal, which could take at least a few months.
Railway President Dave Wilkinson said he may start running his vintage tourist trains again.
“More than likely,” he said following a brief court hearing on the railway’s legal battle with the Ventura County Transportation Commission. “I have to really take a serious look and talk to counsel about it, but the stay does say that we can start running our tourist trains” at least until the appeal is resolved.
No tourist trains are currently scheduled, he said. The last one ran over the July Fourth weekend. A murder mystery dinner train ran Saturday night.
At Fillmore & Western’s request, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Riley stayed her July 2 eviction order until the railroad’s appeal of the order is decided. The order barred the railway from using the Santa Paula Branch Line, which the commission owns, for its tourist trains.
“We won a round,” Fillmore & Western attorney Donna Standard said outside Riley’s courtroom. “I expect to win everything.”
The commission’s general counsel, Steve Mattas, said the agency is weighing its options in light of the stay being granted. He declined to say what those options are.
“I need to be able to advise the commission first,” he said.
The commission will, however, oppose the railway’s appeal, Mattas said. The appeal “could take as little as a few months or it could take longer” to litigate, he said.
The judge found that not staying the eviction would result in “extreme hardship” to Fillmore & Western.
“The court finds it very apparent that the company will lose its excursions train income if the judgment is not stayed,” Riley wrote in her tentative ruling, which she then finalized. VCTC “will not be irreparably harmed by the stay.”
As a condition of the stay, she ordered the railway to provide proof to the commission by Monday that it has insurance for the rail corridor naming the agency as a beneficiary.
Riley issued the eviction ruling after an unlawful detainer lawsuit was filed against Fillmore & Western by the commission, finding that the agency had properly terminated its lease with the railway. Wilkinson contends the commission had no good reason to do so.
The commission says it is seeking the eviction to make the 32-mile, money-losing branch line profitable, and after negotiations with Fillmore & Western failed.
Also to be decided is whether the railway can continue to use portions of the branch line for freight purposes and to rent its vintage trains for Hollywood productions such as 2011’s “Water for Elephants.”
The commission has terminated Fillmore & Western’s lease to do so, but the railway is challenging that in a lawsuit against the public agency. That suit temporarily has been stayed pending a hearing before Riley on Monday.
Wilkinson said the longer he believes the eviction stay will last, the more likely he will start running his tourist trains again.
“With this type of an operation, it’s so dependent on long-term advertising,” he said. “Even with social media, you can’t plan a train and have a success in two or three weeks. It has to be two or three months. And so we just have to really look and see.”
Before Wednesday’s hearing, a handful of railway supporters demonstrated outside the courthouse in Ventura, including Santa Paula resident Vanessa Acosta, who held a sign that said, “Shame on You, VCTC.”
Like others, Acosta said the Heritage Valley economy would suffer if Fillmore & Western was forced to stop running its trains. The railway says it attracts up to 70,000 tourists a year.
“It’s two small towns, Fillmore and Santa Paula, and the trains bring a lot of people to both of them who spend money at our businesses,” she said.
Gary, I hope this is more than a short term measure.